Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate being given the opportunity to speak to the amendments before us. I will speak about housing, an issue I have spoken about since 2016. I do not point the finger at the Minister because he has been most helpful with housing issues in west Cork that I have approached him about.

I raise urgent issues which need to be addressed in relation to the provision of homes for young people and people of all ages who call me daily. It was said earlier that it was unfair to say that nothing is being done on housing. I hear about the problems in my constituency clinic. For every ten people who come into me, six of them have housing issues. I know of the upset and torture some people are going through because they cannot get started in life. Some of them cannot get a house or a mortgage. They have a good average job but it is not good enough to get a mortgage. They are then pushed into the trap of having to apply for social housing. They find that social housing is not available. Regarding renting a house, often HAP is not available to them. They are in a trap and they cannot get out of it, and this causes upset and difficulties. There are solutions out there. The Land Development Agency Bill seems to deal with a population of 30,000 or more. That exempts most of my constituency unless we bottle it all together. The Bill must look at areas in my county and others, like Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Bantry, Bandon, Kinsale and areas like those that continue to have a housing crisis.

One good thing I notice about people - they are the people I listen to a lot - is that some of them try to come up with solutions and get over the issues themselves. Many young people come to me to see whether I can help them get planning. Some of them had already applied and had thought it was a fair system. They thought they would get a fair answer but they come up against stumbling blocks. More people come to me before they apply for planning permission. The stumbling blocks that are put before them are terribly unfair. We are pushing people down one road, and that road is social housing. We have a Tánaiste who dreams that he will build 40,000 homes a year. I do not know what side of the bed he got out of that morning when he announced that. RTÉ gave him as much coverage as he wanted for two days to talk about 40,000 homes. When he was in office, he was only able to build a few thousands. All of a sudden, he is dreaming that he can build 40,000. Perhaps he has them in the back of the car and he can open them up. Perhaps they will be built with toy bricks. In reality, that is not going to happen and he has to be honest. He should not put a false belief out there that we are going to get 40,000 homes built. The problem is with the trap this country is in. It will have to keep building and building. It will dream that it will keep building, that there will be cities and skyscrapers built and that people will be living in apartments. Living in an apartment is a terribly difficult life, and I know from looking at some of them around the cities.

A solution to much of this can be found in rural Ireland and it is not being looked at. There is a fear of God out there in case we were to build and start a rural community. A number of years ago, county development plans contained village nuclei. That was when county development plans worked with the people. Now they work against the people. A village nucleus is one where if there were a shop, a pub or a church, planning permission would be allowed around them thereby building a community.

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If people mention that now, they are thought to be off their rocker because it is rural Ireland and people cannot build a house in rural Ireland anymore due to all these dreamed-up scenic landscapes and other nonsensical rubbish. It is not architectural or percolation issues, which have to be adhered to, but nonsensical rubbish. That is all it is - some collar-and-tie pencil pusher dreaming up ideas to ensure that nobody gets to live in a rural community and nobody can build a rural community. We have the facilities and the capabilities, be it in west Cork or any other county in Ireland, to help solve, not fully solve, this problem.

There is another issue. In the towns and villages of west Cork there are many derelict houses. There must a serious focus on over-the-shop living or something along that line, with proper funding made available. There are fabulous community centres and massive, brilliant schools in west Cork. There are fabulous facilities in the towns and villages for young people who are struggling to survive in the cities. They could have a good and healthy lifestyle. We blame Covid-19 for not being able to build houses all along. However, it has not happened. I keep referring to the 40,000 houses dream that the Tánaiste woke up to one morning. That is not going to happen either. We know that, and it is scandalous that national broadcasters would give somebody so much air time to talk so much rubbish. Is there nobody there to say: "Hang on a minute, what are you talking about? That is not going to happen and you know it is not going to happen"?

I want to return to the issue of people who look for planning permission. I am very focused on that and I believe it will be the subject of the next big protest that will happen in this country. We are inundated with people in my county who are continually being refused permission. We need to drop this carry-on about having to have a connection to the area. Of course, if somebody is looking for planning permission, the person obviously has to prove he or she has a job there. Surely to God that is good enough to give the person planning permission. The person does not have to be living so many kilometres from the site. The person should not have to prove he or she cannot live there because it is a scenic landscape. We are forcing people into a situation. I see it when I go to clinics in Kinsale, Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Bantry. They are no-go areas for housing. It is a struggle both mentally and physically for people. I have had people crying their eyes out in my office, as I am sure other Deputies have had, asking why I cannot get them a house. I had somebody on the telephone today threatening to put me on the radio because I could not get the person a house. What can I do? I do not have them in the boot of the car. The Tánaiste must have plenty of them, but I do not.

Will the Minister work with the rural communities to create a solution, regardless of whether it is in this legislation or in future legislation, with regard to planning permission and rural living in towns and villages? There is a solution there. It is not a magic wand and it will not cure all, but it is certainly well worth exploring.

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